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Sunday, July 1, 2012

Happy Canada Day!

Welcome Ultimate Blog Challengers- Let's Celebrate with Some Cake!

Today starts the July Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I welcome any new readers
coming my way. This is a rework of a post I made a year ago. My regular Sunday post will follow shortly.

I live in upstate New York, about a 3 1/2 hour drive south of the
Canadian border, about an hour south of Syracuse, NY, near the
NY/Pennsylvania border. I've been blogging every day for some 14 months straight, and hope this Challenge will allow me to extend that streak.

This is a "miscellaneous" blog, by way of a short introduction. On
Wednesdays I blog about flowers or something else related to the reason. On Sundays I blog about the
American Civil War. Saturday is my "sustainable" feature - farmers' markets or something related to sustainable living. On any other day, I blog about anything that strikes my
fancy. For instance today I
am going to blog about....cake. And not just any cake.

Today is Canada Day, the day Canadians celebrate the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act.
I have visited Canada several times, and have always had a lovely time.

One thing I've never done, though, is to be in Canada on Canada Day. One time, though, I was in Canada on the 4th of July, my country's Independence Day,
because...well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. On that 4th of
July visit, a bit homesick, I watched postponed Canada Day fireworks in
Saint John, New Brunswick. It's really strange watching another country
celebrate its birthday. It's also a learning experience.

It's too bad I wasn't there on Canada Day itself, because I probably missed a slice of birthday cake.

Birthday cake? Yes. In the United States we do many things on our
Independence Day. We have parades. We listen to patriotic speeches.
We have picnics. We have municipal celebrations. We enjoy fireworks.
We drink beer. We go to baseball games. But we don't have municipal
birthday cake. Not in any place I've lived in anyway, and I've lived in
New York, Florida, Kansas, Arkansas and Iowa.

Canadians know that a birthday celebration should include cake. And that includes your country's birthday.

I learned that 4th of July about Canada Day Cake. A
white cake with whipped cream frosting, topped with strawberries, is
one way the Canadians celebrate their national birthday. The
strawberries should be arranged in a maple leaf pattern on the cake.
This may be served at a large outdoor festival. Coffee served might be Tim Horton's.

We Americans make flag cake
for the 4th of July, but it isn't institutionalized in the same way.
It's more of a novelty, something to serve to family and friends.
Ours, also, is topped with something white. The cake is normally
decorated with blueberries for the field of stars and strawberries for
the stripes. However, I've never seen an actual Independence Day
birthday cake served at a festival.

How does the country you live in celebrate its Independence Day, if it has one?

2 comments:

Fun post! I am a Canadian and YUP - had some Canada Day birthday cake today!! Funny, it has always been that way - huge cake - actually a competition between the different functions in our area to see who can make the biggest slab cake to feed as many guests as possible LOL! Just back from our fireworks - always a good show - lots of red and white! :)Happy early 4th of July!! Thanks for recognizing Canada today :)

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About Me

From the housing projects of New York City to rural Arkansas to upstate New York, I've traveled a long and winding road. Learning more daily about writing, photography, and the importance of chocolate in a well-lived life.